Buying an aircraft isn’t easy. These major capital investments are often too expensive, even for the military. Naturally, when the military acquires one of these machines, they want to get maximum returns. To do so, they need to evaluate their aircrafts’ conditions throughout their lifecycles. Doing so involves. How to find Top Aircraft Repair Companies.
- Overhauling the aircraft from time to time.
- Conducting detailed inspections before every flight.
- Replacement of outdated aircraft parts.
- Rectifying any defects.
- Making necessary modifications to meet compliance-related requirements.
- Follow all Airworthiness Directives (ADs) from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
- Repair damaged parts and components in time.
Since the military can’t execute all of these functions, they depend on MRO companies (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul). These companies offer seamless support to military aircraft operators (in addition to commercial and private airlines). Essentially, MROs help air force pilots stay ever-ready for every mission. However, the pandemic has seriously impacted the military’s ability to invest in these services properly.
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Financial Challenges Faced by the Military
Optimizing asset availability while cutting costs has always been a challenge for the armed forces. One vital area of improvement for the military is aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul. Since these activities dictate the availability of aircrafts, they’re extremely vital.
However, MRO accounts for up to 70% of all aircraft-related costs. How can the armed forces invest in efficient MRO services when the country’s total defense budget is being affected because of the pandemic? Thankfully for them, the country’s leading aircraft repair companies have stepped up during these uncertain times.
How Leading Aircraft Repair Companies are Helping
The current global economic slowdown is expected to trigger a subsequent drop in defense spending. However, the leading US-based military MRO companies have used existing regulations and controls to provide efficient MRO services throughout the pandemic continuously. Every top aircraft repair company in the country has made fundamental changes to its organizational structures and processes.
By doing so, these aircraft repair experts have been able to boost the efficiency and the effectiveness of their MRO efforts by as much as 60% percent. That’s why the military aviation MRO market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 1.85% between 2021 and 2030. Currently, the market is valued at $36.79 billion, but it’ll easily cross the $45-billion-mark by 2030. These companies have taken steps like –
Offering High-Quality MRO Services at Fixed Prices
The best aircraft repair companies work with several foreign and domestic airline companies. To ensure their clients are “mission-capable” at all times, they offer fixed prices for fixed firms while guaranteeing ever-improving turn times. Since many of these practices were already a part of these companies’ ethos, they were able to step up and deliver cost and time-effective repair services to the U.S. Army and the U.S. Coast Guard during the pandemic.
The U.S. Air Force rates the MROs they give contracts to. The repair companies that already had “Very Good” contractor performance ratings performed the best during the pandemic. They offered high-quality operational logistics support and cost-effective repair and overhaul services throughout the lockdowns for all aircraft types – be it a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 or a Boeing KC-135.
No matter how complicated the repair requirements, these companies could perform optimally throughout these challenging periods. Since these aircraft repair firms receive airworthiness certifications from the FAA, the EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency), the CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China), and various other organizations, their services’ quality couldn’t be questioned even during a global pandemic.
Training the Staff to Handle Unexpected Challenges
Most aircraft repair companies hire employees based on their academic proficiencies and past experiences. However, various staff members across the best aircraft repair companies in the country were re-trained to be prepared for emergency requirements during the pandemic. These trained workers were able to –
- Flexibly cope with unanticipated “emergent” work discovered while maintaining AOGs (aircraft on the ground).
- Carry out all predictable and repetitive maintenance work with due diligence.
- Employ productivity-improvement techniques such as efficiently balancing maintenance loads and rooting out unnecessary work practices.
Staff members at the best aircraft repair firms were able to develop deep expertise in highly specific tasks so that they could perform them faster and more efficiently. This specialization approach reduced the constant need for training (it wasn’t easy to provide training programs for many aircraft repair firms) as each staff member was focused on only a few specialized tasks.
Stocking Important Aircraft Parts and Tactical Equipment
Lastly, the best aircraft repair firms benefited from their long-term habits of stocking some of the most commonly used aircraft repair parts. These firms also kept stocks of specialized instruments and devices that the armed forces frequently use. More importantly, these firms could forecast demands and offer appropriate logistics support to the military throughout the lockdown periods. Despite the countless challenges, the best aircraft repair companies never compromised on the quality of their services.
